Systems and methods for identifying increased user interest and promoting content in a geographic information system

Abstract

Systems and methods for identifying increased user interest in a geographic area and selecting and promoting content associated with such geographic area within a geographic information system are provided. One exemplary aspect relates to a computer-implemented method of promoting an item of content within a geographic information system. The geographic information system can comprise a plurality of geospatial data objects respectively representing a plurality of geographic areas. The plurality of geospatial data objects can be accessed by one or more client devices. The method includes identifying a first geospatial data object experiencing an increased volume of access. The method further includes selecting an item of content associated with a geographic area represented by the first geospatial data object and promoting the item of content within the geographic information system. An exemplary system includes a host server system in communication with one or more client devices over a network.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for promoting content, the system comprising:
 one or more host servers operable to host a geographic information system, the one or more host servers each having at least one memory, at least one processor, and at least one network interface, the geographic information system comprising a plurality of geospatial data objects respectively representing a plurality of geographic areas; 
 wherein the one or more host servers are configured to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 providing access to the plurality of geospatial data objects, via the at least one network interface, to one or more client devices; 
 receiving a request from the one or more client devices for a geospatial data object from the plurality of geospatial data objects, the geospatial object representing a geographic area; 
 determining a first geospatial data object experiencing an increased volume of access; and 
 providing for display by the one or more client devices a promoted item of content within the geographic information system, the item of content being associated with a first geographic area represented by the first geospatial data object. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining a first geospatial data object experiencing an increased volume of access comprises applying a statistical measure to access data associated with the first geospatial data object to identify an increased volume of access, the access data describing the number of instances in which the host server provides access to the first geospatial data object to the one or more client devices. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining a first geospatial data object experiencing an increased volume of access comprises:
 monitoring, for a plurality of periods, the number of instances in which each of the plurality of geospatial data objects is accessed by the one or more client devices. 
 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 3 , wherein determining a first geospatial data object experiencing an increased volume of access further comprises:
 identifying a first period that exhibits a larger number, with respect to selected other periods of the plurality of periods, of instances in which the first geospatial data object is accessed. 
 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein determining a first geospatial data object experiencing an increased volume of access comprises:
 measuring, for each of the plurality of geospatial data objects, a volume of access versus time. 
 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 5 , wherein determining a first geospatial data object experiencing an increased volume of access further comprises:
 monitoring, for each of the plurality of geospatial data objects, a derivative of the volume of access with respect to time. 
 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 5 , wherein determining a first geospatial data object experiencing an increased volume of access further comprises:
 identifying a first geospatial data object having a derivative exhibiting a positive value exceeding a threshold value. 
 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the host server is configured to perform further operations comprising selecting the item of content from a plurality of items of content based upon a content selection algorithm that incorporates relevance data, popularity data, and advertising partnership data. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein selecting the item of content comprises:
 identifying a point of interest located within the first geographic area represented by the first geospatial data object. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , wherein selecting the item of content further comprises:
 selecting an item of content associated with the point of interest based upon the content selection algorithm that incorporates relevance data, popularity data, and advertising partnership data. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 9 , wherein identifying a point of interest located within the first geographic area represented by the first geospatial data object comprises:
 identifying a plurality of points of interest located within the first geographic area represented by the first geospatial data object. 
 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 11 , wherein identifying a point of interest located within the first geographic area represented by the first geospatial data object comprises:
 selecting a first point of interest based upon a point of interest selection algorithm that incorporates one or more secondary signals, the selected item of content being associated with the first point of interest. 
 
     
     
       13. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a request from the one or more client devices for a geospatial data object from a plurality of geospatial data objects; 
 monitoring the number of instances in which each of the plurality of geospatial data objects included in a geographic information system is downloaded by one or more client devices, each of the plurality of geospatial data objects respectively representing one of a plurality of defined geographic areas; 
 determining a first geospatial data object experiencing an abnormally large number of downloads; and 
 providing for display by the one or more client devices content within the geographic information system, the content associated with the first geospatial data object and having increased visibility within the geographic information system. 
 
     
     
       14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 13  wherein:
 the number of instances in which each geospatial data object is downloaded by the one or more client devices is monitored for a plurality of sequential periods. 
 
     
     
       15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 14  wherein: 
       identifying a first geospatial data object experiencing an abnormally large number of downloads comprises:
 evaluating a percent change, for each period with respect to a previous sequential period, in the number of instances in which each geospatial data object is downloaded by the one or more client devices; and 
 identifying a first period exhibiting a percent change, with respect to downloads of a first geospatial data object, that is greater than a threshold value. 
 
     
     
       16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 13  wherein:
 monitoring the number of instances in which each geospatial data object is downloaded by one or more client devices comprises monitoring a plurality of derivatives respectively associated with the plurality of geospatial data objects, the plurality of derivatives respectively describing the change in the number of downloads of each geospatial data object by the one or more client devices over time. 
 
     
     
       17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 16  wherein:
 identifying a first geospatial data object experiencing an abnormally large number of downloads comprises identifying a first derivative describing an abnormally large increase in downloads of a first geospatial data object over time.